The Story of KALTBACH

The KALTBACH story is innately Swiss, beginning at a site of natural splendour: the KALTBACH cave, which lies within the Santenberg sandstone mountain.

There was no mountain or cave here 22 million years ago, just a sea with sand at the bottom. This eventually hardened into sandstone and within a century formed the Santenberg.

The KALTBACH cave boasts 94% air moisture and temperatures ranging between 10-12.5°C all year round – these conditions are due to the cave’s unique mineral-created climate.

As luck would have it, in 1953 a lack of space meant we were forced to store the cheese in the cave – thus discovering the best possible location for maturing the cheese.

During their maturation process the cheeses changed due to the unique conditions in the cave. A long process of experimentation with the challenging wet and mineral-rich climate began.

When some cheeses changed colour, this unnerved the cheese makers. However, it turned out that the change in the colour of the rind shows that the cheese is ripening into a perfect consistency and mellow taste.

Lots of care is required before a good cheese becomes a KALTBACH cheese. The secret of the refining process has never been written down, but is passed from one generation of cheesemakers to the next.

Our KALTBACH cheese requires not just careful tending, but time, to best profit from our cave’s unique climate. The cheese needs up to nine months to ripen to perfection.

Only the combination of the best possible cheeses, careful monitoring and a unique cave-specific climate ensures the incomparably luxurious flavour that earns our KALTBACH seal.